Parents mourn after Indian school fire kills 88

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A relative carries the body of a boy outside the Kumbakonam General Hospital mortuary. Photo: AP

Kumbakonam: Parents broke down in tears as the bodies of their children were buried or cremated today after a fire in an Indian school killed 88 children.

"He is gone, he is gone forever," wailed Vijaya as she said farewell to her eight-year-old son Vadivelu, who died of his burns in hospital yesterday.

"I had prepared his afternoon meal for him, but he will never eat it."

At least 15 people gathered outside her house to console Vijaya and her husband Sekhar, a manual labourer. The scene was repeated in dozens of locations across the little town of Kumbakonam, which lies in a fertile district known as the rice bowl of the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

The bodies of 75 children were recovered from the Sri Krishna school after the fire yesterday. Another 13 children, most just eight or 10 years old, died of their burns in hospital, senior district official J Radhakrishnan told reporters.

Radhakrishnan said five people, including the school principal and the cook, were arrested. Authorities are also investigating why no teachers were killed or injured in the fire.

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"Action has been taken as they did not follow fire safety norms," he said, adding that regulatory authorities were also partly to blame for failing to enforce safety norms.

The blaze began in a kitchen where yesterday's lunch was being prepared before spreading to the school's palm-thatched roof.

Many of the children were trapped in a large classroom which had only one exit, dying after the blazing roof collapsed on top of them and blocked their way out.

"The kids were too small to break down the wall or think of any way out," said Balu, a 35-year old father of two, whose children were being taught on another floor and escaped unhurt.

"The government is to blame as there has been no inspection of this school for at least two to three years. If someone had inspected the facilities, maybe they might have pointed it out to the school management, and this might have been avoided."

Newspapers criticised the lack of adequate exits and fire extinguishers as well as the fact that cooking was being carried out under a thatched roof.

The Perumandi cremation and burial ground in the town stayed open overnight as attendants buried or burned the bodies of dozens of children killed in the blaze.

"At least 30 of the bodies that have come here were in the 5-10 year age group," said burial ground owner Subramanian.

"The parents are rushing through the last rites as they cannot bear to look at the charred bodies any more."

As 10-year old Monica's body was lowered into a grave, her father slipped to the ground in grief. A mourner said the girl had escaped the fire only to go back into the building in an effort to retrieve her books.

"She was scared that her parents would scold her for losing the books," he said.

There were at least a dozen freshly dug graves besides Monica's.

A short distance away in a compound adjacent to the burial ground, there were at least 15 piles of smoking ashes, the remains of cremated children. Four piles of firewood were stacked nearby in preparation for more corpses.

"Some of the parents are so shocked that they do not know what they are doing or saying," said S Kumar, a 49-year old scrap metal dealer.

"Hindus who would normally burn the bodies of their dead relatives have buried them tonight. Some parents are saying that they cannot bear to put these burnt bodies into fire again."

The fire at Kumbakonam, a dusty trading town on the banks of the Cauvery River famous for its temples, was the second major blaze in the state this year. More than 50 people were killed in an inferno at a marriage hall in January.